Civic Leadership Institute

Hi, my name is Tai Campbell and I am 14 years old and in the 9th grade. I’ve never created a Go Fund Me page but I figured it’s worth a try. For the past 2 summers, I’ve been lucky enough to go to the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth summer program. My mother affectionately calls it nerd camp because kids spend 3 weeks out of their summer taking a college level course. Last summer at Lafayette College in PA, I took an entire psychology course in 3 weeks. We went to class during the day, in the evening, and over the weekends. I loved it. The summer before at Roger Williams College in Rhode Island, I took a writing course where we read about 5 or 6 books and wrote a lot of papers. I have been able to go to CTY for the last two summers because my family qualified for Financial Aid. It costs $4500 for the 3-week summer program.

This summer I wanted to attend the CTY Civic Leadership Institute in Baltimore, Md. It’s a service-learning program where students go out into the community and serve and learn about tackling real-world problems. Here’s a description of the program, 

This year, my family didn’t get any financial aid because my parents make more than the cut-off. My mom and dad said they think they can scrape together about $1500 and so I am trying to raise the other $3000. I figure if I can get about 100 people to donate on average about $30 each, I’ll reach my goal. (I set my goal at $3100 because I figured I should take into account the 2.9% processing fee plus 30 cents on every transaction through Go Fund Me.)

I really want to go this summer because I think this will be the last year I can go to CTY. Next year, my parents will be helping my brother get ready for college and any extra money they have I’m sure will go towards that.

I know that when people create Go Fund Me pages, they usually have something to give back to the donors who help them reach their goal. I don’t have anything tangible I can offer you but I can promise you that I will take what I learn at the Civic Leadership Institute this summer and continue to make it a part of my life. I know I am very lucky to have had the opportunities I’ve had, I do not take any of it for granted and I will continue to look for ways to help others. If I am able to go the Leadership Institute this summer, I will let you know exactly what we do while I am there and try to send pictures.  

And if I don’t raise the $3000, I will feel OK about it because I will know that I gave it my best effort. Thank for reading this and thank you very very much if you decide to contribute to my goal of $3000.

Sincerely,

Tai Campbell